‘PM must have only people with clean image in his team’

With Union Ministers coming under a cloud over the 2G issue, activist Anna Hazare on Saturday said it is the Prime Minister’s responsibility to ensure that his cabinet colleagues have impeccable character and integrity.

“It is the Prime Minister’s job to ensure that his Ministers have impeccable character and integrity,” he said when questioned about allegations against Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal.

Mr. Hazare avoided a direct reply to the question on Mr. Sibal, saying he had no information about the issue.

Both Mr. Sibal and Mr. Hazare are members of the joint Lokpal drafting committee and have been engaged in a verbal duel over the issue of anti-corruption ombudsman.

The allegations against Mr. Sibal have been made in a PIL filed in the Supreme Court by an NGO. The PIL has alleged that Mr. Sibal reduced the penalty from Rs. 650 crore to Rs. five crore against Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) for violations in the Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) as a “favour”.

Mr. Sibal has dismissed the charges against him as “malicious, motivated and defamatory”.